French Film Fridays – WSP to host “March of the Penguins” Friday, June 12th (Update: Moved to Monday, June 15th); Other films subsequent Fridays

The New York City Parks Department in conjunction with the Cultural Center of the French Embassy is presenting French Film Fridays for Free, or what they call “Films on the Green,” in June and July. The series began this past Friday, June 5th (actually, due to rain it was moved to Sunday) at Central Park. The festival moves next to Washington Square Park for three Fridays beginning this Friday, June 12th with the Academy-Award winning “March of the Penguins.”

Update: Apparently, “March of the Penguins” moved to Monday, June 15th, 8:30 p.m.

WSP Film Schedule: Friday, June 12th: “March of the Penguins, the epic story of penguins fighting to survive in the Antarctic that made nature documentaries cool again.” Friday, June 19th: “Microcosmos, a spectacular look into the tiny world of insects, with such highlights as bees collecting nectar, spiders wrapping their catch and a mosquito hatching.” Friday, June 26th: “The Big Blue, Luc Besson’s timeless and fascinating movie unfolding in the enigmatic world of free-diving.”

This is a nice collaboration of the Parks Department with a cultural organization vs. handing over the reins to a private conservancy. The series moves to Tompkins Square Park after WSP for three films in July. The full information about the series can be found here. Seating begins around 8:15 p.m., films begin approximately 8:30 p.m./sunset. Rain date is the following Sunday. All free.

Washington Square Park Blog is an independent hyper-local blog which covers the redesign of the park, events, preservation, and its history, as well as other parks, privatization of public space, nearby events and entities in Greenwich Village and city-wide. Updated typically 3-4 x a week.